Unemployment rates fell throughout Southern California in March but job creation slowed from the previous month, state officials reported Friday.

Los Angeles County's unemployment rate edged down to 10.2 percent in March from 10.3 percent the previous month and 11.2 percent a year earlier, the state Employment Development Department reported.

The county added 23,700 jobs in March and 82,600 year-over year. Those numbers were welcome, but they came in below February's monthly gain of 39,000 jobs and the 89,400 that were added year-over-year last month.

The Inland Empire's unemployment rate took a deeper dive, falling to 10.5 percent in March compared with 10.9 in February and 12.4 percent a year ago.

The two-county region added 3,500 jobs over the month - more than the 2,900 that were added in February - and 23,500 over the past 12 months. That fell below February's annual gain of 27,500 jobs.

Christopher Thornberg, a founding partner with Beacon Economics in Los Angeles, said the latest numbers will likely be revised upward in the coming months.

"The direct unemployment numbers suggest that not only do we have good numbers, but that they are under-counting on the order of 80,000 jobs," he said. "That would probably be spread out over the last eight or nine months. "

Thornberg said California is looking proportionally better than the U.S. as a whole, which added just 88,000 jobs in March.

Stephen Levy, director and senior economist of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto, agreed, saying California's job growth continued to outpace the nation's last month.

Over the past 12 months the state's job level has increased 2 percent versus 1.4 percent for the nation, he said, and job creation has finally picked up in Los Angeles County, which also had a 2 percent growth rate over the past 12 months.

"It's a very good report for California and a very good report for Los Angeles," Levy said. "It's been a long time since L.A. County alone outpaced the nation by that much."

Mara Klug, a regional vice president with Adecco USA Inc., said hiring has been picking up for her agency.

"We saw an uptick in March compared with February and we're up over the prior year," said Klug, whose agency offers temporary placement, temp-to-hire placement and direct-hire services. "The first part of April is looking even better. Most of the customers who have come to us with increases are hiring for new positions, so they're not just replacing people who have left. That's encouraging. "

Klug said Adecco has seen increased demand for jobs in sales, customer service and software development.

"I'm very optimistic for L.A. County, especially the San Fernando Valley and San Gabriel Valley," she said. "Coming out of the recession, businesses have been cautious the last couple of years about making long-term investments because there is still some uncertainty. But now they're feeling the crunch to get work done and they need to make sure they have enough people on staff to meet their demands. "

California's jobless rate dropped to 9.4 percent in March from 9.6 percent in February and 10.7 percent a year earlier, the EDD reported. The Golden State added just 25,500 jobs compared with last month's revised gain of 37,400. Still, the state has boosted its payrolls by 746,800 jobs since the recovery began in February 2010.

And most regions of California are adding jobs despite the government sequestration, the automatic spending cuts that have kicked in because of the budget battle, Levy said. He figures job growth will continue barring any major shock to the national economy.

Los Angeles County's biggest employment gains last month came in the information sector, with the creation of 9,900 jobs. Nearly all of those positions - 9,600 to be exact - came in the motion picture and sound recording industry.

Professional and business services added 6,500 jobs in March and other notable gains were seen in leisure and hospitality (5,100), government (4,200) and educational and health services (2,700).

Construction remained flat and trade, transportation and utilities posted a loss of 7,600 jobs. Other losing sectors included manufacturing (down 200), and retail trade (down 1,900).

Further east, the Inland Empire's strongest employment gains for March were in government, which added 1,500 jobs. Educational and health services added 1,100 positions and leisure and hospitality boosted its staffing with 1,000 new jobs.

The biggest decline was professional and business services, which shed 700 jobs.

Many Southland cities are still saddled with double-digit unemployment rates, including San Bernardino (14.2 percent), South El Monte (12.6 percent) and Bell (13.2 percent), among others.Staff writer Greg Wilcox contributed to this report.